Current vehicle maintenance practices require operators to return the vehicle to a maintenance location (if possible) prior to beginning the maintenance process. This process normally requires oral reporting which may be entered into a database before actual maintenance activities begin. Additionally, current logistic practices for re-supplying vehicles with consumables such as fuel, oil, oxygen, and expendables such as in the case of tactical aircraft or tactical units, ordinance, chaff, flares, or other like known expendables, require manual database input and are not initiated until a vehicle returns to the servicing location. This manual process results in a time delay between the use and accounting of the consumables and expendables. This delay in turn further delays the re-supplying or servicing vehicles.
Additionally, mechanical faults experienced in the field are typically not reported until a vehicle or other unit returns from the field to its servicing depot. Once the asset has been returned from operation in the field to the servicing depot, maintenance faults and diagnostic programs may be run in order to isolate faults associated with individual components or modules within the asset. This also results in delay and slower returns to service as the asset must continue to operate with the fault until identified at the servicing depot with analysis by a diagnostic team to determine the source of the fault.
Newly fielded communication systems often provide unpredicted utility in ways never envisioned by the original planners. Long-range communication capabilities provided by emerging commercial satellite communication (SATCOM) systems have improved effectiveness of these communications. For example, in operations with forward air controllers of Special Forces, commercial SATCOM offers the potential for extended and enhanced communications with deployed assets. Current UHF radio systems allow terrain to mask low-elevation-angle, line-of-sight, direct communications with in-bound tactical aircraft. In this case, information will not be available until UHF communications are established as the tactical aircraft approach the servicing area.
Therefore, a need exists for a system and method with which to more timely coordinate the servicing of vehicles or other assets returning from a sortie or mission.